Film director Roland Joffe. His movies include, "The Killing Fields," and "The Mission." His latest film is "City of Joy," based on the book of the same name by Dominique Lapierre about life in the slums of Calcutta.
British writer Richard Rayner. His new semi-autobiographical novel is "The Elephant," about a son's relationship with his father. The father steals a lot of money, fakes his own death, and disappears for ten years. Once reunited, the two engage in scandalous exploits. One reviewer wrote that the novel progresses from the picaresque to the poignant "densely woven with brilliantly macabre, hilarious details..." (published by Random)
British actress and comedienne Emma Thompson. She's best known here for the double role she played in "Dead Again," as a woman with amnesia and a past life. (she played opposite her husband, Kenneth Branagh). She also played a dippy Duchess in "Impromptu," and Jeff Goldlum's girlfriend in "The Tall Guy." In England she had her own show, "Thompson," which featured her in a series of comedy sketches. She's now appearing in "Howards End," a Merchant-Ivory production based on the E.M. Forster novel.
Hungarian writer Gyorgy Konrad. When he was 11 he bribed local police so that he and his sister could leave town and escape being deported. In 1974 he and a fellow writer were arrested in Budapest and imprisoned shortly for writing a sociological manuscript which was considered "subversive." Asked to leave the country, he decided a writer "should not emigrate, should not turn away from the risks of his profession." Konrad has written several novels, "The Case Worker," "The City Builder.
Writer and Director Ron Shelton. His latest movie is a movie about basketball, "White Men Can't Jump," starring Woody Harrelson, Wesley Snipes, and Rosie Perez. SHELTON is a former professional baseball player. He also was writer and director of the films, "Blaze," and "Bull Durham." (Interview by Amy Salit)
Novelist James Lee Burke. He's been writing for 35 years but he's best known for his more recent detective novels about Dave Robicheaux (ROW-bah-show), a recovering alcoholic, who is also a troubled Vietnam vet, and a New Orleans police lieutenant. The books are: "The Neon Rain," "Heaven's Prisoners," "Black Cherry Blues," and "A Morning for Flamingos." His fifth Robicheaux novel is, "A Stained White Radiance." (published by Hyperion).
TV critic David Bianculli reviews two shows that highlight two veteran performers: James Taylor and Bob Newhart. One is on Disney and the other on Showtime. With Newhart, this is his first full-length standup act in 25 years. They'll be broadcast on Sunday.
British elections are coming up this week: We'll look at the elections, and how the British media is covering them, with New York Times London correspondent William Schmidt.
Singer-songwriter Peter Case. He took a Greyhound to California in the 70s, played guitar on the streets of San Francisco, and later got involved in the L.A. band scene in the early 80s, where he started a band called The Plimsouls. Since then, he's had a solo career. His new album is called "Six Pack of Love" (it's on the Geffen label).
Critic Maureen Corrigan reviews "The Candidate's Wife," a politcal novel written by Michael Dukakis' former campaign press secretary, Patricia O'Brien (published by Simon and Schuster).
Actor Larry Fishburne. He was Cowboy Curtis on "Pee-wee's Playhouse," and he played a young G.I. in "Apocalypse Now" when he was only 15. He was last in "Boyz in the Hood" as the main character's father. His latest role is in the soon-to-be-released film "Deep Cover," in which he plays an undercover cop. (Fine Line Pictures).
Jazz Critic Kevin Whitehead reviews a recording of Stan Getz and Kenny Barron called "People Time" (on the Gitanes Jazz label), billed as Getz's last recording before his death.
Isaac Asimov [a.k.a. Paul French], the prolific science fiction writer, has passed away at the age of 72. Asimov wrote nearly 500 books, and was honored, among other times, in 1966 with a special Hugo Award for the best science fiction series ever for his "Foundation" trilogy. We present highlights from an earlier interview. (Rebroadcast. Originally aired 9/25/87.)
William Taubman is a political science professor at Amherst College. He was recently in Moscow as one of the scholars invited to help open up the archives of the government under Communism. He was able to get a sense of the day to day workings of the Soviet empire.
Writer and radio talk show host Studs Terkel. His new book, "Race: How Blacks and Whites Think and Feel About the American Obsession," (The New Press) is the latest in his series of collected oral histories. He won a Pulitzer prize for his collection "The Good War," about World War 2. His other books include "Working," "Hard Times," and "Division Street: America."
Writer Geoffrey Wolff. His new collection of essays, "A Day At The Beach" (Alfred A. Knopf), is about the worst vacation ever. It started with over-priced dinners and ended in open heart surgery. Wolff is best known for his book "The Duke of Deception," a memoir about being the son of a con man.
